Nigeria in the 1980s was a place where whispers carried more weight than official statements. Among the most whispered-about stories was the case of Gloria Okon; a woman whose disappearance still fuels conspiracy theories today.

It was 1984, and the Buhari-Idiagbon regime had made it clear that drug trafficking would not be tolerated. Gloria Okon, a young woman, was arrested at the Aminu Kano International Airport while attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country. It should have been a routine case: arrest, trial, and sentencing. But what happened next turned it into one of Nigeria’s most infamous political mysteries.

Shortly after her arrest, news broke that Gloria Okon had died in custody under suspicious circumstances. No one saw the body. There was no detailed explanation. No official post-mortem report.

And just like that, the case was closed.

But then, the rumors started. Had she really died, or had she been smuggled out of the country to protect powerful people?

After Babangida overthrew Buhari in 1985, things took a new twist. Journalists and insiders began to whisper that Gloria Okon was no ordinary drug smuggler.

According to some reports, she was a courier for a powerful drug cartel with deep connections to the Nigerian elite. Some even alleged that she was working for figures inside the military government itself.

The most shocking claim came from Dele Giwa, the editor of Newswatch magazine. He reportedly received information that Gloria Okon was alive and well, living abroad under a different identity. He began investigating deeper into the case, making inquiries that made powerful people uncomfortable.

A few months later, Dele Giwa was killed in a bomb blast.

The Connection to IBB?

This is where the conspiracy theories get even darker. Some believed that Dele Giwa’s assassination was linked to his investigation of Gloria Okon.

Babangida’s government denied any involvement, but the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s death only fueled more speculation. If Okon was really dead, why was there so much effort to silence those asking questions?

The Gloria Okon case raised a bigger question about how deeply crime and politics were intertwined.

• Who really controlled the drug trade in Nigeria?
• How many people in government had their hands dirty?
• Was the anti-drug war just a front, while the real players operated from the corridors of power?

Even today, the drug trade in Nigeria remains a powerful underworld, with connections reaching into high places. From the 1980s to now, some of the same patterns continue: arrests of small-time traffickers, mysterious disappearances, and big names that never get mentioned.

And as for Gloria Okon?
Her case remains one of Nigeria’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

Some say she died in 1984.
Others believe she never left the system; just changed her name.

But the truth?
It may never be known